The Wolf and the Hawk
by Sarah310592
Summary: What if there was another Agent there when Hawkeye was taken? What will she do to get him back? What's so special about her that she is considered for the Avengers? How will she react to Loki when they come face to face and how will she react to the other Avengers? Clint Barton/OC - Alana Clancy. Let me know what you think. R
1. Part 1

**AN: This is my new Avengers Story. I am going to do it several chapters in between my Doctor Who series to give my self a break, I hope you like it. I think it's going to end up being about 7 or 8 chapters and I am aiming for each chapter to be about 4500 words (hopefully).**

**This I going to be Clint/OC story (Look at the second chapter of my Character Profile story for more information).**

******If I miss anything spelling or grammar wise please let me know as its not my strong point so I will probably make many mistakes and I don't have a beta.**

**The Actress I picture to play my OC is Eliza Dushku.**

**Any outfit for my OC described are on my Tumblr and Polyvore which you can access through my profile page.**

**Can I just say as well I from the UK so some of my spelling might be different from what it's supposed to be for the film.**

**I have not seen Thor, Captain America or Iron Man 3, all the information I've put in this is from the first two Iron Man and Avengers film as well as anything I look up online.**

**~*8*~ is a scene break**

_**Italics **_**is a ****Thoughts and foreign languages**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, or anything that is recognised. I only own my OC and her back story. I got the parts of the script I kept through subtitle on the DVD so I don't own them either.**

Director Nick Fury and Agent Maria Hill, both wearing their regular SHIELD uniform and weapons, where approaching a SHIELD research facility in a black army grade helicopter. They where accompanied by Agent Alana Clancy, who was wearing a pair of grey skinny cargo jeans, a black bomber jacket, military issue boot, and was also carrying two pistols strapped to her belt and a knife strapped to her thigh.

They look down at there destination to see red lights flashing as the alarm blares and the over head speaker which can be heard announce that the evacuation protocol had been put into effect. People are running around trying to gather their equipment and direct people to where they are supposed to go.

Landing quickly they meet Agent Coulson on the edge of the landing pad and start to hurry into the facility.

"How bad is it?" Fury demands.

"That's the problem, sir. We don't know" Coulson answers simply.

~*8*~

Coulson leads them through the facility and down an elevator, getting off at the right floor and heading toward the direction of the stairs that lead down to the testing room Coulson says "Dr. Selvig read an energy surge from the Tesseract four hour ago"

"NASA didn't authorize Selvig to test phase" Fury says to Coulson as they walk, Hill walking directly behind listening in on them while Alana keeps an eye on everything else going on around them out of habit.

"He wasn't testing it, he wasn't even in the room. Spontaneous event" Coulson says.

"It just turned itself on?" Hill butts in.

"What are the energy levels now?" Fury questions ignoring Hill.

"Climbing" Coulson states "When Selvig couldn't shut it down, we ordered the evac"

"How long to get everyone out?" Fury asks wanting to know the time frame.

"Campus should be clear in the next half hour" Coulson tells him.

"Do better" Nick demand over his shoulder as they lead off to do there separate jobs, not seeing the smile Coulson and Alana share.

~*8*~

"Sir, evacuation may be futile" Hill says as they head down some stairs.

"We should tell them to go back to sleep?" Alana cuts in a very sarcastic voice.

"If we can't control the Tesseract's energy, there may not be a minimum safe distance" Hill says adamantly appearing to ignore what Alana said.

"I need you to make sure that PHASE 2 prototypes are shipped out" Fury asks ignoring her.

"Sir, is that really a priority right now?" Hill asks sounding confused.

Fury finally turn to face her stopping on the stairs "Until such time as the world ends, we will act as though it intends to spin on. Clear out the tech below. Every piece of PHASE 2 on a truck and gone" he orders.

"Yes, sir" she says grudgingly before turning to the two standing agents "You two, with me"

~*8*~

Fury enters the lab facility where the Tesseract is being held, approaching the Doctor closest to the glowing blue cube, it seems to be pulsing slightly and flares of energy spike out in arcs at random intervals.

"Talk to me, doctor" he orders as Alana stands at ease behind him.

"Director" the doctor greets him as he walks around the machine holding the Tesseract.

"Is there anything we know for certain?" Fury asks.

"The Tesseract is misbehaving" the Doctor says seriously.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Fury asks raising his one visible eyebrow.

"No, it's not funny at all. The Tesseract is not only active, she's...misbehaving" he says gesturing to the scientist that has just been shocked whilst poking the Tesseract with a metal stick

"How soon until you pull the plug?" Fury asks getting down to business.

"She's an energy source. If we turn off the power, she turns it back on. If she reaches peak level..." Selvig says trailing off.

"We've prepared for this, doctor. Harnessing energy from space" Fury starts.

"We don't have the harness. Our calculations are far from complete. Now she's throwing off interference, radiation. Nothing harmful, low levels of gamma radiation" Selvig interrupts.

"That can be harmful. Where's Barton?" Fury asks, making Alana perk up and actually listen for the answer.

"The Hawk? Up in his nest, as usual" was Selvig's reply making Alana smile slightly.

Agent Barton otherwise known as Hawk eye, dressed in his black tactical gear, is up on the railings watching them below, until Fury calls Barton on his earpiece "Agent Barton, report"

Barton rappels down from the catwalk and walks up to Fury and Alana. They walk around the facility, watching all the scientist in a discreet manner.

"I gave you this detail so you could keep a close eye on things" Fury says in an undertone.

"Well, I see better from a distance" Barton shrugs as he walks close to Alana taking her hand without anyone seeing.

Fury sighs far too used to that answer before asking "Are you seeing anything that might set this thing off?"

"No one's come or gone. It's oven is clean. No contacts, no I.M.'s. If there was any tampering, sir, it wasn't at this end" Barton answers letting go of her hand and crossing his arms.

"At this end?" Fury asks looking curious.

"Well yeah, the cube is a doorway to the other end of space, right? Doors open from both sides" Barton answers as if it should have been obvious.

"Is everything alright, Doctor?" Alana asks making both Fury and Barton look over to Selvig, watching as he types away quickly at the keyboard and sees on the monitor the Tesseract's energy spiking even worse than before.

Before he can answer there is a crack of energy and then another before suddenly there is an even louder crack like thunder as the Tesseract starts to shake violently causing the entire facility to shake with it. The energy flares, as everyone stops and stares at it. It continues to pulse and crackle, before it glows even brighter and then it seems to pop as the energy builds up before it morphs into a beam. The beam launches forward at least 30ft to a platform before swirling around creating a dome.

The beam then swirls until it eventually forms a sort of vortex big enough for a single person to fit through. Looking through the portal the blackness of space can be seen, strewn with a billion stars, only for a moment before it seems to almost implode in on itself sending a blast of energy out wards in a wide circle knocking people back a bit from the force but leaving them unharmed.

There was a moment where everything was dead silent before loud breathing could be heard from the platform. Everyone in the room looks over towards the platform, Alana pulls out one of her guns just in case.

A figure is kneeling on the platform, smoke coming off it. He is dressed mainly in black with green and gold panelling, and his face looks pale, a stark contrast to the black hair that goes to just above his shoulders. The figure raises his head and looks up, seeing the humans around the room he smiles and chuckles. He looks directly at Fury, Alana, Barton and Selvig, before standing up, holding what appears to be some kind of sceptre in his hand.

"Sir, please put down the spear!" Fury cautions.

Loki looks at his sceptre then suddenly points it at where Fury, Alana and Barton are standing firing a blast of what looks like the same energy the Tesseract.

Barton tackles Fury, both barely getting out of the line of fire as Alana throws herself to the side coming up from a roll before aiming her gun at Loki, firing along with several other agents but the bullets seem to just bounce off him.

Loki jumps from the platform and attacks those firing at him. In the space of several seconds, Loki manges to take down several guards with his knifes and his sceptre. He turns towards Alana as she keeps firing at him until her bullets run out dodging the blasts of energy he sends her way. He manages to get close to her just as she grabs her knife and grabs her around her neck, She raise her arm to stab him but he manages to grab her wrist restraining her before he smirks and throws her into the wall knocking her out.

Barton finally manages to stand up and engage after being thrown down from the backlash of one of the energy blasts, although he is favouring his leg. Loki quickly walks towards him. Barton raises his gun, but Loki just grabs Barton's hand and twists it to the side.

"You have heart" he says before pointing the sceptre at Barton's chest over his heart. The sceptre glows blue and seems to almost absorb into Barton in waves, the energy travels up his chest up to his eyes which turn black for a second before clearing, leaving behind what looks like a blue film covering his normally green eyes. Barton puts his gun away and stands straight up facing Loki like a soldier awaiting orders.

As Loki does the same thing with a couple more of SHIELD's personnel, Fury manages to make his way to the Tesseract and places it back inside a lead lined, bullet proof brief case before turning to leave the lab.

"Please don't. I still need that" Loki says in an almost polite tone.

Fury turns slightly towards him still keeping his back turned "This doesn't have to get any messier" he says looking around for an escape.

"Of course it does" Loki scoffs "I've come too far for anything else. I am Loki of Asgard, and I am burdened with glorious purpose" he introduces

"Loki? Brother of Thor?" Selvig looks up in recognition where he just managed to stand up leaning heavily on a near by table.

"We have no quarrel with your people" Fury interrupts seeing the look Loki shoot Selvig and not wanting anyone else to get hurt or killed.

"An ant has no quarrel with a boot" Loki answers focused again.

"You planning to step on us?" Nick says disbelievingly.

"I come with glad tidings, of a world made free" Loki says smiling a little crazily.

"Free from what?" Fury demands annoyed.

"Freedom" Loki says not noticing Fury's raised eyebrow "Freedom is life's great lie. Once you accept that, in your heart" Loki points the sceptre at Selvig and his eyes glaze over like the rest "You will know peace"

Fury releases an inaudible sigh "Yeah, you say peace, I kind of think you mean the other thing" not looking back as he feels the static charge building in the wide open space behind him.

Barton walks over and warns "Sir, Director Fury is stalling. This place is about to blow. Drop a hundred feet of rock on us. He means to bury us"

"Like The Pharaohs of Odin" Fury smirks not noticing the groan from where Alana lay as she starts to come around.

"He's right. The portal is collapsing in on itself. You got maybe two minutes before this goes critical" Selvig says as he check the reading coming up on the computer.

"Well, then..." Loki trails off looking at Barton who doesn't even hesitate and shoots Fury right in the chest knocking him backwards as the bullet hits is vest.

Loki leading them away gestures to Barton who grabs the case containing the Tesseract as they all leave the lab together, not noticing behind them Alana getting up and silently moving to Fury's side to make sure he's OK. Fury's nods at her before gesturing for her to follow them.

~*8*~

Alana follows them silently picking up a couple of guns along the way, as they head down to the sub level parking lot.

Seeing Hill, Barton says "Need these vehicles" gesturing to a car and a humvee.

Hill looks at him suspiciously "Who's that?" nodding her head to Loki.

"He didn't tell me" Barton replies as they all get into the cars Loki sitting in the open back of the humvee. Hill walks away still looking unsure just before they hear Fury speaking through the walkie talkie "Hill, do you copy?!" Fury grunts as the walkie crackles "Barton is turned"

Hill while not knowing exactly what is happening looks quickly over her shoulder before ducking and rolling behind cover as Barton fires his gun at her. Using the door as coverage Alana starts to fire on the cars along with Hill but Barton just gets into the drivers seat of the car and drives off.

Alana heads for another humvee shout for Hill to get in, before quickly driving after them. Hill quickly start firing her gun as they chase through the tunnel leading off the base.

Several SHIELD trucks pull up to them and start firing as they hear Fury through the talkies. Loki, who is standing on top of the bed of the truck, uses his sceptre and fires another energy blast flipping over SHIELD trucks. Alana quickly swerves down a side tunnel to avoid the collision before speeding up. They join the main Tunnel just in front of Barton and Alana spins the car before they both start firing on them shooting through the wind shield to try and get a better shot.

Barton's presses his foot down and speeds up which causes Alana Jeep to wobble and spin off back behind Barton. She loses control for a second before regaining it and giving chase again. The tunnel starts to fall down around them causing them to have to focus on dodging that then stopping Barton and Loki.

With one final blast wave of the Tesseract's energy the tunnel starts to cave in, the large chunks of rock start falling knocking into the side of Alana's Jeep and causing her to spin slightly before even more rocks fall down in front of them and cut them off nearly trapping them in, there is a gap at the entry way to the tunnel just big enough for a small person to fit through and both agents run to get out just as the rest of the tunnel caves in. They can only watch on as Barton's truck drives of into the desert landscape.

~*8*~

Fury's helicopter flies over Barton's truck and Loki looks up. From the chopper's door, as it slides open and Fury stands there holding a gun and shooting at Barton. Loki looks at Fury and fires his sceptre at the chopper. Just before the chopper crashes Fury jumps out just missing the car and lands on the desert floor.

Fury shakes himself off then starts to fire at the Loki again but they are out of range. Over the talkies Coulson is trying to get through to him "Director? Director Fury, do you copy?"

"The Tesseract is with the hostile force. I have men down. Hill?" He asks waiting for a reply.

"A lot of men still under, don't know how many survivors. Me and Clancy are nearing your location sir" Hill answers as she and Alana pick up the pace to get to him quicker.

As they approach Fury immediately starts to give out orders to Hill "Sound the general call. I want every living soul not working rescue looking for that briefcase"

"Coulson, you pick up Clancy and get back to base. This is a Level 7. As of right now, we are at war" he says into the talkie.

Coulson replies "Will do" he pauses before speaking again "What do we do?" Fury doesn't answer for a moment he just stands there thinking. He gets a look of determination on his face before he nods to himself "I'll tell you when we get there" he says softly looking over at the remains of the research facility.

~*8*~

On the outskirts of Russia near a rail road, there was the sounds of fighting coming from inside the construction building. Agent Natasha Romanov was tied to a chair being beaten by one of the Russian thugs surrounding her. The thug back hands her one more time before the leader of the group walks forward saying in Russian "_This is not how I wanted the evening to go__"_

"_I know how you wanted this evening to go. Believe me, this is better_" replies Natasha also in Russian.

"_Tell me, who are you working for, Lermentov, yes?_" the man called Luchkov questions "_Does he think we have to go through him to move our cargo_" he drawled as one of the thugs rock her backwards in her chair, balancing her off the edge of an open floor.

"_I thought General Soholob was in charge of the export business_" Natasha questions in a fearful voice.

"_Soholob? __A bag man, a front. Your outdated information betrays you. The famous Black Widow and she turns out to be simply another pretty face_" drawls Luchkov.

"_You really think I'm pretty?_" Natasha says coyly.

"_Tell Lermentov we don't need him to move the tanks. Tell him he is out. Well..._" Luchkov says as he slowly walks over to a table filled with a variety of different, he lets his hand wander over them before stopping and picking up a pair of pliers "_...__you may have to write it down._"

One of the thugs grab Natasha's jaw digging hi thumb into the joint forcing her mouth wide open.

Suddenly, one of the thugs cell phone rings. Looking confused, he answers.

"_Ya?_" He answers before looking towards Luchkov "_It's for __her_" he says handing him the phone.

"_You listen carefully..._" Luchkov says angrily only to be interrupted.

Alana's on the phone "You're at 1 – 14 Silensky Plaza, 3rd Floor. We have an F-22 exactly 8 miles out. Put the woman on the phone or I will blow up the block before you can make it to the lobby"

Luchkov looks slightly worried before he places the cell phone against Natasha's ear where she traps it between her ear and shoulder.

"We need you to come in, Nat" Alana says sounding tired.

"Are you kidding? I'm working!" Natasha says sounding thoroughly confused.

"This takes precedence" Alana says.

"I'm in the middle of an interrogation and this moron is giving me everything" Natasha states.

Luchkov say "_I__ don't give everything_" before falling silent when Natasha sends him a look.

"Look, you can't pull me out of this right now" she says determined to finish her mission.

"Nat. Clints's been compromised"

Natasha pauses for a second letting that information sink in before deciding "Let me put you on hold" She nods to Luchkov.

As Luchkov comes to take the phone off her, Natasha kicks him in the groin then as he jolts forward she head buts him knocking him to the ground. She stands up as much as she can whilst still tied to the chair kicking the thug that comes straight at her, using the chair as a weapon she hits the second thug before rolling with it and taking out the third by running him backwards before jamming the chair leg down on his feet and slamming her head backwards breaking his nose. Using the chair as leverage she spins tripping up another thug before using him as a springboard and flipping up over him and smashing the chair down on the back of the first thug. The last thug tries to grab her from behind but she twist his arm and hits him hard in the ribs with the piece of the chair still tied to her arms before kicking off him into a floor flip jumping up, running at the last thug standing, running up him wrapping her thighs around his head and flipping him knocking him out against the floor. She then walks over to Luchkov as he is trying to get up wraps a chain tightly around his ankle before throwing him down into the open floor, suspending him in mid air.

Natasha goes over and picks up the phone "Where's Barton now?" she says to Alana who through it all had been waiting patiently.

"We don't know" she answers with a sigh.

"But he's alive" Natasha says optimistically.

"We think so. Coulson will brief you on everything when you get back. But first, we need you to talk to the big guy" Alana assures.

"Doesn't Coulson know that Stark trusts me about as far as he can throw me" Natasha says smugly.

"Yes, that's why I've got Stark. You get the big guy" Alana says mock-cheerfully.

"Bozhe moi" Natasha cursed as she walks out the building hanging up the phone.

~*8*~

Bruce Banner follows a little girl into a shack on the far edges of the city Calcutta in India. Once inside the shack the little girl run straight to the back and escapes out the back window.

"Should have got paid up front, Banner" Banner says sardonically to himself.

Natasha then appears from behind the curtains. Banner turns around, quietly to face her.

"You know, for a man who's supposed to be avoiding stress, you picked a hell of a place to settle" she says.

"Avoiding stress isn't the secret" Banner replies still on edge.

"Then, what is it? Yoga?" Natasha replies trying to lighten the mood.

"You brought me to the edge of the city, smart. I uh... assume the whole place is surrounded?" Banner says gesturing around the room.

"Just you and me" Natasha says as convincingly as she can.

"And your actress buddy, is she a spy too? Do they start that young?" Banners says in disbelief.

"I did" Natasha shrugs

"Who are you?" Banner questions

"Natasha Romanoff" Natasha answers politely

"Are you here to kill me, Miss Romanoff? Because that's not gonna work out for everyone" Banner says sadly.

"No. No. Of course not. I'm here on behalf of SHIELD" Natasha says shaking her head.

"SHIELD" Banner says surprised "How did they find me?"

"We never lost you, doctor. We've kept our distance, even helped keep some other interested parties off your scent" Natasha explains.

"Why?" Banner questions not trusting her at all.

"Nick Fury seems to trust you. But now I need you to come in" Natasha says simply

"What if I said no?" Bruce questions although he expects he knows the answer.

"I'll persuade you" Natasha says simply.

"And what if the... other guy says no?" Banner asks looking around slightly nervous.

"You've been more than a year without an incident. I don't think you wanna break that streak" Natasha says shaking her head.

"Well, I don't every time get what I want" Banner states warningly.

Natasha decides to change tactics "Doctor, we're facing a potential global catastrophe" she says sitting down at the small table pulling out her phone.

"Well, those I actively try to avoid" he says knowing what she is trying to do.

"This is the Tesseract" she says sliding her phone over to Banner watching as he picks it up and takes a look "It has the potential energy to wipe out the planet"

"What does Fury want me to do? Swallow it?" Banner asks confused.

"Well, he wants you to find it. It's been taken. It omits a gamma signature that's too weak for us to trace. There's no one that knows gamma radiation like you do. If there was, that's where I'd be" Natasha says leaning back in her chair.

"So Fury isn't after the monster?" Banner asks still not believing her.

"Not that he's told me" she shrugs

"And he tells you everything?" he asks.

"Talk to Fury, he needs you on this" she says simply.

"He needs me in a cage?" demands Banner.

"No one's gonna put you in a..." Natasha start but was interrupted by Banner slamming his hands down on the table" STOP LYING TO ME!" he shouts getting an instant reaction of her reaching under the table for the pistol she placed there and aiming it at Banner.

Banner stands straight up, smiling almost smugly "I'm sorry, that was mean. I just wanted to see what you'd do. Why don't we do this the easy way, where you don't use that, and the other guy doesn't make a mess? Okay? Natasha..." Bruce says soothingly.

Natasha lovers her gun slightly reaching up for her ear piece and speaking into it "Stand down. We're good here"

Banner looks at Natasha with a raised eye brow before his mouth twists into a smirk "Just you and me?"

~*8*~

Nick Fury walks into an old fashioned boxing gym to meet Captain America AKA. Steve Rogers, he walks into the main room to see Rogers with his hands wrapped punching a bag clearly lost in his memories, he keeps punching the bag until he lands one solid hit and knocks the bag right off the chain, splitting it open and spilling sand everywhere. Steve opens his eyes then goes to pick up another bag to hook up when he hears someone behind him, tensing slightly before relaxing remembering he is not in the war any more and looks over to see Director Fury

Fury walks in and says "Trouble sleeping?

"I slept for seventy years, sir. I think I've had my fill" Steve comments off handedly.

"Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world" Fury says as Steve stops punching the bag and walks over to the bench, unravelling the tape off his hands.

He sits down on the bench saying "I went under, the world was at war, I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost"

"We've made some mistakes along the way. Some very recently" Fury admits.

"You here with a mission, sir?" Steve asks looking up.

"I am" Fury confirms.

"Trying to get me back in the world?" Steve says.

"Trying to save it" Fury corrects.

Fury hands Steve a file on Tesseract, along with an other folder.

"Hydra's secret weapon" Steve asks shocked

"Howard Stark fished that out of the ocean when he was looking for you. He thought what we think, the Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs" Fury explains.

"Who took it from you?" Steve asks going straight into soldier mode.

"He's called Loki. He's not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know"

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me" Steve comments.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong. There's a debriefing package waiting for you back at your apartment" Nick says as Steve turns and picks up a punching bag before walking out of the gym.

"Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?" Nick asks as Steve passes him.

"You should have left it in the ocean" Steve says as he leaves the room.

**AN: ********Hope you like it, please tell me what you think,**

******I'll have the next part up as soon as possible, Sarah x :)**


	2. Part 2

******Disclaimer: I do not own the Avengers, or anything that is recognised. **

******~*8*~ is a scene break**

_****__**Italics **_******is a Thoughts and foreign languages**

Out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean Tony Stark, in his Iron Man suit, was deep down in the water cutting a pipeline transport that leads directly to Stark tower, with a laser cutter coming from the hand of his suit. After cutting a square piece of the pipeline out he then attaches a Stark prototype energy reactor to the smaller pipes inside. It twists and latches on to the pipes properly, then extends to cover the uncovered pipes before lighting up with a blush green glow. Iron Man straightens up before he launches himself straight up out of the water just barely missing a cruise ship before setting off towards Stark tower.

Weaving through the buildings of New York he talks to Pepper over the comlink "You're good on this end. The rest is up to you"

"You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?" Pepper is heard saying through the link as a video pops up on his HUD (heads up display).

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy" Tony says with an air of smug satisfaction.

"Wow. So assuming our arc reactor takes over and it actually works" Pepper says.

"I assume" Tony says as he turns down a side street and the tower comes into view "Light her up"

As Iron Man flies straight to the Stark tower building just as the power is switched on and the whole thing starts to light up from the bottom, the last thing lit up is the massive STARK that is prominently displayed on the front.

"How does it look?" Pepper asks excited.

"Like Christmas, but with more... me" Tony says sounding extremely satisfied with the results.

"Gotta go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I can do some more tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next billboards" Pepper says going into business mode.

"Pepper, you're killing me. Remember? Enjoy the moment" Tony says a little exasperated that she was bringing down the mood.

"Then get in here and I will" Pepper replies in a very sultry voice.

~*8*~

Tony arrives at his skyscraper penthouse lands on the extended platform. As he walks down the steps leading to an arched cat walk robotic aches circle up and around him extending to latch onto various parts of his suit and removing the all as he makes his way for the door.

Just as the robotic arms reach for his chest plate JARVIS speaks up "Sir, Agent Coulson of SHIELD is on the line"

"I'm not in. I'm actually out" Tony says as they finish taking off his suit.

"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting" JARVIS says apologetically just before entering the room and walking over to Pepper.

"Close the line Jarvis. I got a date" he says as he walks down to the main space of his penthouse.

Pepper is stood, looking up at the monitors at lots of diagrams and readings for the reactor device.

"Levels are holding steady... I think" She says biting her lip.

"Of course they are, I was directly involved. Which brings me to my next question: how does it feel to be a genius?" Tony asks coming to a stop directly behind Pepper after throwing his comm onto the table.

"Well, ha, I really wouldn't know now, would I?" Pepper says turning to face him.

"What do you mean? All this came from you" Tony says gesturing around the room vaguely.

"No. All this came from that" she says pointing to and then tapping the miniature arc reactor in his chest.

"Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself... twelve percent of the credit" Tony says rubbing his hands up and down her arms in whats supposed to be an affectionate gesture, the effect of which was then completely ruined by his words.

"Twelve percent?" Pepper says with a raised eye brow sounding completely offended.

"An argument can be made for fifteen" Tony says trying to redeem himself but Pepper is not willing to listen.

"Twelve percent? my baby?" Pepper says incredulously.

"Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you" Tony says defensively.

Pepper makes a noise of offence before deciding to head over to the mini bar for some champagne.

"My private elevator..." Tony starts.

"You mean OUR elevator?" Pepper says pouring herself a glass.

"...was teeming with sweaty workmen. I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages in some subtle way later, aren't I?" Tony trails off knowing he deserves it before taking the glass Pepper poured for him.

"Not gonna be that subtle" Pepper says smugly.

"I'll tell you what. Next building's gonna say 'Potts' on the tower" Tony says tipping his glass towards her for a toast.

"On the lease" Pepper compromises going in for a toast, before Tony pulls away "...Call your mom, can you bunk over?" he says like a child pleading for candy.

"Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten" JARVIS interrupts.

"Stark, we need to talk" Coulson's voice can be heard from Tony's Stark phone on the table nearby. Tony picks up his phone and looks into it at Coulson.

"You have reached the life model decoy of Tony Stark, please leave a message" he says to him evenly making Pepper laugh.

"This is urgent" Coulson answers not willing to waste time.

"Then leave it urgently" Tony says almost petulantly. At that moment the elevator doors open and Coulson appears in his standard suit and tie, Alana standing beside him wearing a chequered shirt under a brown waxed leather jacket, a pair of dark blue faded ripped style jeans, a pair of brown, heeled boots, along with the Dog tags and cross and an arrow ring that Clint had given her for good luck during her first mission, carrying a black leather bucket bag.

"Security breach" Tony says before pointing to Pepper "That's on you"

"Mr. Stark" Coulson greets politely

"Phil! Come in" Pepper says before turning to Alana "Sorry, I don't think I know you"

Ignoring Tony who is mumbling something about Phil's first name being Agent.

"Alana Clancy, I always wanted to meet the woman that has such control over Stark" Alana says introducing herself with a grin.

"Come on in, we're celebrating" Pepper says smiling, already liking the woman.

"Which is why they can't stay" Tony says trying to get them to leave.

"We need you to look this over" Coulson says as he holds out a tablet "Soon as possible"

"I don't like being handed things" Tony says backing away slightly waving his free hand as if to brush it away.

"That's alright, cause I love to be handed things. So, let's trade" Pepper says passing him her glass of champagne and taking the tablet from him, only for her to then takes Tony's glass and give the tablet to him.

"Thank you" she says sipping from his glass, as Alana tries to take the glass from Coulson for herself, pouting when he moves it to a table out of her reach.

"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday" Tony says bitingly.

"This isn't a consultation" Coulson says seriously.

"Is this about The Avengers?" Pepper says before backtracking "Which I...I know nothing about"

Alana snickers softly before answering Pepper "Yup, we're in some need of the Earth's mightiest heroes now"

"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify" Tony says refusing to admit that he was pouting a little.

"I didn't know that either" Pepper says smiling at Alana as she snickers again.

"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others" Tony lists off still pouting as he heads over to his work station.

"That I did know" Pepper says in agreement with that assessment.

"This isn't about personality profiles any more" Coulson says.

"Whatever. Miss Potts, got a minute?" Tony says as Pepper walks over to him, he plugs in the tablet downloading the files into his own databases.

"You know, I thought we were having a moment" Tony says petulantly.

"I was having twelve percent of a moment. This seems serious, Phil and Alana seem pretty shaken up" Pepper says wanting him to get his priorities straight.

"Is that her name? How did you notice? And why is he Phil?" Tony asks still typing away

"What is all of this?" Pepper asks effectively distracting him.

"This is, uh..." Tony says dragging his fingers up the monitor ans seems to almost fling the files onto the holo-screens surrounding them "This" he finishes as they all light up with the profiles of the people considered for the Avengers.

On the first screen there is Captain America in action in in WWII, the Hulk roaring, smashing up tanks and cars as the army try to apprehend him at Culver University, Thor fighting the destroyer just after having gotten his powers back, one of Alana, Clint and Natasha shooting enemy combatant on their latest team mission to Budapest and the last one is of Loki and the Tesseract, along with the basic information and accomplishments of each individual. Tony and Pepper look at all the displayed in shock, especially at the screen containing the Hulk seeing him throw a tank as he rampages through the campus.

Pepper looks quickly around at all the profiles before sighing "I'm going to take the jet to D.C. tonight"

"Tomorrow" Tony disagrees.

"You've got homework. You've got a lot of homework" Pepper points out.

"Well, what if I didn't?" Tony questions turning to face her.

"If you didn't?" Pepper says wanting to make sure "You mean when you finished?" Tony nods his head in acknowledgement "Well, um...then..." she leans up to whispers something enticing into his ear.

This makes Tony straighten up with a dreamy look in his eyes, clearing his throat as he says "Square deal. Fly safe"

Pepper kisses him before calling over her shoulder "Work hard" as she heads over to leave with Coulson and Alana.

"So any chance your driving by La Guardia" Pepper asks them as she approaches.

"We can drop you" Alana says with a smile.

"Fantastic" Pepper says smiling back before turning to Phil and asking "I want to hear about the cellist. Is that still a thing?"

"She went back to Portland, it didn't work out" Coulson answers politely as Alana snickers.

"How could you not know she was still married?" She laughs at him "People like us have to do back ground checks for a reason y'know"

"I was trying to be less paranoid" Phil says pointedly not letting any emotion show.

"How's that workin' out for ya?" Alana snorts making Pepper laugh as Coulson whacks her playfully on the arm with the back of his hand.

Tony watches them leave before turning and grabbing the Tesseract in holograph form, looking worried now that no one was around to see.

~*8*~

Inside a Quin Jet flying low over the Ocean Steve Rogers is sitting down holding a tablet, watching the footage of the Hulk's during the attack by the Army at Culver University.

He looks up slightly as the Pilot announces "We're about forty minutes out from base, sir"

Agent Coulson stands up from his seat next to a sleepy Alana and walks over to Steve seeing that he has some questions.

"So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?" Steve asks.

"A lot of people were. You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula" Coulson finishes just as the Hulk roars with fury as he smashes a jeep apart causing both there eyes to fall to the screen.

"Didn't really go his way, did it?" Steve says a little shaky.

"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, guy's like a Stephen Hawking" Coulson says but Steve just looks confused so he explain himself better by saying "He's like a smart person. I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you, officially"

Steve smiles at Coulson vaguely feeling a little overwhelmed at the sight of the Hulk, not that he would ever admit it.

"I sort of met you, I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping" Coulson says sounding a bit creepy as Steve looks down knowing what he meant but, not really wanting to think about the time he spent in the ice. He stands up, turns off the tablet and walks over to the front to stand near the cockpit with Coulson following.

"I mean, I was... I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really, it's just a... just a huge honor to have you on board" Coulson stumbles trying to correct himself thinking he might of offended the man as Alana snickers at him.

"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job" Steve says.

"Oh, you are. Absolutely. Uh... we've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input" Coulson says hoping to take the Captains mind off of what ever seems to have bothered him so much.

Ignoring Alana sleepily coughing the words Fan Boy Steve says to Coulson "The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little... old fashioned?"

"With everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned" Coulson replies nodding his head before turning to go back to Alana making her lie down as much as she can on the bench that runs the length of the jet and ordering her to get some sleep, knowing she hasn't had any since this whole mess started over 36 hours ago.

~*8*~

The Quin jet lands down on what seems to be a colossal battleship. It has two runways. One with direct access to a hangar at the rear is aligned along the spine of the vessel. Coulson, Alana and Steve walk down the ramp, meeting up with Natasha at the bottom.

Natasha takes one look at Alana's rumpled appearance and nods her head in thanks to Coulson for making her get some rest, knowing she wouldn't have done so any other way, but also knowing she needed it to be in top form.

"Agent Romanoff. Captain Rogers" Coulson introduces smiling at the last names a little.

"Ma'am?" Steve greets with a nod.

"Hi" she says to Steve before turning to to Coulson "They need you on the bridge. They are starting the face-trace"

"See you there" Coulson says to all three of them before walking away.

"There was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?" Natasha says playfully smiling as she leads them over towards the edge of the ship out of the other Agents way.

"Trading cards?" Steve asks smiling.

"They're vintage, he's very proud" Alana says, speaking for the first time.

Natasha spots Banner looking around cautiously, not seeming to notice them as they start walking towards him, Alana breaking off to help some of the Agents with some gear before heading inside for a cup of coffee.

"Dr. Banner" Steve says as he spots Bruce walking up to him holding out a hand to shake.

"Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you'd becoming" Bruce says shaking his hand.

"Word is you can find the cube" Steve says straight to business.

"Is that the only word on me?" Bruce questions cautiously.

"Only word I care about" Steve says assuringly.

Bruce nods in thanks before gesturing around "Must be strange for you, all of this"

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar" Steve says taking a deep breath.

"Gentlemen" Natasha says to them after speaking to someone over the comm "you may wanna step inside in a minute. It's gonna get a little hard to breath"

Suddenly the carrier starts to shake as it prepares to take off, the Agents rushing around them to finish strapping down all the jets and cargo.

"Is this is a submarine?" Steve asks looking around curiously.

"Really? They wanted me in a submerged pressurized metal container?" Bruce asks incredulously.

They both move closer to the edge of the vessel and look over the edge, just in time to see 2 massive turbines rising up out of the water, Steve looks around in awe as the carrier starts to rise off of the Ocean top, where as Bruce just smiled shaking his head ruefully.

"OH, NO. THIS IS MUCH WORSE" Bruce shouts so that he can be heard over all the noise, before he and Steve follow Natasha inside the carrier.

~*8*~

Agent Hill is in front of the main command desk in a room full of Agents moving around doing there designated duties, she turns to Nick Fury who is stood at the top of the central cat walk over looking the windows that see out into the open sky.

"We're at level, sir" She says to him.

"Good. Let's vanish" he replies.

"Yes sir," she says turning to the computer again before announcing "engaging retro-reflection panels" as she activates the panels, which reflect photographed images of the sky to render the carrier comoflaged.

Steve and Banner walk through the main control room noticing all the high level technology surrounding them, Steve heads up towards Fury.

"Gentlemen" he says in greeting taking the 10 bucks Steve offers him. Fury walks over Banner and extends his hand. Banner, reluctantly shakes it.

"Doctor, thank you for coming" he says releasing the man's hand seeing the man's reluctance and not wanting to scare him off so soon.

"Thanks for asking nicely. So, uh... how long am I staying?" Bruce questions clearly not taking Fury's welcoming at face value and wondering if he will ever be aloud to leave.

"Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you're in the clear" Fury assures, not letting it show that he is not quite telling the whole truth.

"Where are you with that?" Banner asks wanting to get to work.

Nick Fury turns to Agent Coulson to let him explain, while Natasha eyes an image of Clint Barton on a computer screen, she looks over towards the door just as Alana walks into the room carrying a cup of coffee.

"We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us" Coulson explains in more detail for Steve's benefit more than anything else.

"That's still not going to find them in time" Alana says neutrally as she crosses her arms over her chest.

"You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?" Bruce agrees taking off his jacket.

"How many are there?" Fury says, sounding quite smug about that fact.

"Call every lab you know" Bruce says ignoring his tone "tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?"

"Agent Clancy, would you show Dr. Banner to his laboratory, please" Fury orders to Alana, she nods and heads for the door expecting Bruce to follow her.

"You're gonna love it, Doc. We got all the toys" Alana says in a false cheerful voice, having just spotted the picture of Clint on the monitor near Natasha, seeing the image upsetting her far more than she was willing to let on to anyone.

~*8*~

Steve and Coulson are standing near the Agents that are scanning all the satellite imagery for any hits to the facial recognition software they have running, trying to locate Loki.

"I mean, if it's not too much trouble" Coulson asks trying to remain professional.

"No, no. It's fine" Steve says kindly.

"It's a vintage set. It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint, slight foxing around the edges, but..." Coulson starts to explain before being interrupted by Agent Sitwell.

"We got a hit. Sixty seven percent match. Weight, cross match, seventy nine percent" Sitwell reports.

"Location?" Coulson demands heading over.

"Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding" Sitwell says sounding slightly suspicious about that fact.

"Captain, you're up. Clancy your back up" they both nod and they along with Natasha head towards a Quin Jet where a co pilot was already suited up and ready to go.

~*8*~

Loki slowly walks out of the Gala after taking someone's eye out. His suit shifts and changes into his Asgardian armor as he bangs his sceptre down on the floor shouting demandingly to the panicking crowd "Kneel before me"

The crowd ignores him, continuing to try and run away from him until an astral projection of Loki appears, blocking the crowd. Two more projections appear blocking them all in, all the projections grin as they raise their spectres and a blast of energy connects them, encircling the crowd.

"I said. KNEEL!" Loki yells loudly causing everyone to fall silent and they all get down to their knees bowing their heads in front of him. Loki spreads his arms as he walks between them all smiling.

"Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel" Loki says smugly enjoying their submission, until an elderly German man stands up.

"Not to men like you" he says raising his chin high and proud looking at the wanna be ruler.

"There are no men like me" Loki sneers.

"There are always men like you" the brave man corrects.

"Look to your elder, people. Let him bean example" Loki says raising his sceptre as it starts to glow brightly, making the man look at it fearfully.

Just as the beam of energy shoots out of it, Captain America arrives, he just manages to dive in front of the man blocking the blast with his shield, knocking down Loki as it rebounds back at him.

"You know, the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing" the Captain comments casually standing up and walking forward.

"The soldier. A man out of time" Loki sneers as he pulls himself up.

"I'm not the one who's out of time" the Captain says calmly.

Above the Captain the Jet arrives. A compartment on the bottom of it opens and a machine gun comes out and is pointed towards Loki.

"Loki, drop the weapon and stand down" Natasha says over the loud speaker.

Loki immediately send a bolt of blue energy towards the jet, Natasha manages to manoeuvre it just in time, giving Cap the time to throw his shield at Loki.

The Captain runs forward and throws a punch straight to Loki's face, Loki who barely reacts strikes forward with his sceptre only to be blocked by his shield twice as Loki brings it round to hit again. Knocking the Captains shield to the side slightly he jabs the sceptre into his chest sending him flying backwards. The Captain getting up onto his knees says "Back up" through the comm's, just before he throws his shield at Loki who bats it away.

Running at Loki the Captain throw a right hook straight to the side of Loki's face, dodging two strikes of Loki sceptre and jabbing him in the ribs just as Alana jumps down and sends a flying kick at Loki, which knocks him back enough for her to land in a roll, before standing up again.

Throwing two punches left then right she gets blocked only to use the momentum of the block to throw a spinning kick at his head leaving himself open. She jabs him twice in the chest forcing him backwards before sending an elbow to his jaw creating a space between them. Alana moves to go into another attack when Loki hits her hard in the stomach with his sceptre throwing her away where she lands with a thud.

Standing over her, Loki points the sceptres tip on the back of her head forcing her to keep her head lowered yelling "Kneel"

"Not today!" she says knocking the sceptre away and spinning in a low kick knocking his feet out from under him just as the Captain send a kick to his head flipping him over, Loki lands on the stairs hard.

Suddenly, AC/DC's "Shoot to Thrill" starts blasting out of the Quin Jets speaker system and Tony Stark in his Iron Man suit flies through the air touching down near them landing in a crouch, he stands up and pulls out every piece of weaponry the suit has and aims them all at Loki who has just managed to flip himself back over.

"I think he's compensating for something" Alana says to Steve when she sees all the weapons Stark has pointed at Loki making him laugh at the familiar banter between soldiers after a fight.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games" Iron Man says ignoring what Alana said, Loki puts up his hands and surrenders as his armor materializes away.

"Good move" Alana comments offhandedly

"Mr. Stark" the Captain greets politely.

"Captain" Tony returns.

**AN: Thank you to beulah2013 for reviewing. Thank you to everyone who added this to their favourites and alerts.**

**I have decided to not give myself a limit to chapters, I said 7 or 8 which when I originally separated it all up that was about right but, I have found myself not wanting to write the parts away from the Avengers (Hawkeye doesn't count until he's not being controlled anymore). So, unless there is something that fits I am going to leave them bits out, which means I no longer have a solid number for chapters, I'm just gonna go with the flow and see how it ends up (But I am aiming for at the very least 6).**

**My OC (if you haven't read the character profile) doesn't understand her own emotions well, so it will be a while before she realises that the reason she feels so worried over Clint is that she is in love. **

**Hope you like it please tell me what you think.**

**I'll have the next part up as soon as possible, Sarah x**


End file.
